A professor at Brown University recently explained the harmful effects of coal plants across the United States, revealing the potential for fatal results.
What's happening?
While speaking to the Brown University School of Public Health last month, Professor Cory Zigler described how power plants fueled by coal can emit dangerous gases that pose a threat to human health.
"What happens, in addition to just the sulfur dioxide being in the air, is it starts to react with other chemicals in the air, starts to blow around with the wind, and it turns into particulate pollution, or fine particulate matter," Zigler explained. "These are tiny particles, small enough to penetrate our lungs and make us sick."
Zigler went on to list a slew of potential health risks posed by ingesting fumes from coal plants, saying it can affect "respiratory health, cardiovascular health, neurological health, things like Alzheimer's disease, they find these particles crossing the placental barrier in pregnant women." These risks illustrate the need to switch to cleaner energy sources by continuing to shut down coal plants across the country.
"There are lots of different mechanisms through which these particles can make people sick," Zigler added.
Why is this important?
Many coal plants in the U.S. are being retired, but they have already done irreparable damage to public health.
Zigler said his research determined, "Over a long period of time, people die sooner than they would have otherwise died." Zigler and his team studied power plant locations along with data about when and where people died over a 20-year span and concluded that the deaths associated with exposure to coal power plant pollution were "about 460,000 excess deaths in the United States over this time period."
The study did not determine specifically that these deaths were caused solely by breathing in these small particles. However, Zigler maintained, "If the [location] with more of this coal pollution saw people die sooner, then we can attribute those deaths to the excess coal pollution."
What's being done about this?
The transition from coal to cleaner energy sources is gaining momentum. For example, Pennsylvania's largest coal plant was permanently shut down last July. Also, the closure of a coal plant on Neville Island in Pittsburgh resulted in a significant drop in air pollution that led to a 42% decrease in emergency medical visits for heart-related illnesses.
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Furthermore, a study determined that nearly all U.S. coal plants are more expensive to maintain than replacing them with wind or solar energy, so they will likely continue to be shut down over time. This shift toward renewable energy will help reduce pollution and create an environment that is safer for public health.
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